One of the best things about modern technology is that it makes it so simple to outsource just about any and every part of your life. Don’t want to go to the grocery store? Go online and order your groceries to be delivered. Hate to spend time running those annoying errands to the cleaners, the pharmacy, the bank, and the like? No problem, just hire a virtual errand service to take care of all of those things for you.

Now you can even outsourced your dating activities. No, really, you can. Virtual Dating Assistants has been offering its services to men since the early part of 2009, and they have recently announced an expansion of services targeted at women. For just under $500 per month, anybody who is too busy to look for high quality dates via online dating sites can hire a set of professional virtual assistants to take care of this task for them.

No more spending hours writing the perfect custom messages to your potential matches, and no more worrying about whether your own profiles are up to date and well suited to attracting the kinds of singles you’re interested in meeting. With your own virtual dating assistants working on your behalf it’s easy to just sit back and let someone else do all of the work for you. The company even “guarantees” they’ll arrange at least 2 suitable dates per month for you.

It just goes to show that nearly everything can be outsourced, even your search for someone to date. What a wonderful world!

News & Views Agencies, Dating Coach, Dating Services

Sometimes I think the whole world is possessed with smartphones, mobile browsing, and building thousands upon thousands of applications to make it easier to stay connected to just about anything via your mobile phone. It should come as no surprise, then, that online dating has “gone mobile” enthusiastically and deliberately. Mobile applications are the hottest ticket around and online dating sites are not about to be left behind.

Any online dating site that wants to compete in the marketplace absolutely must have a mobile “app” available for its users, and just about every major online dating service does indeed have one. SpeedDate, Skout, Radaroo, DateCheck, and Zoosk are a few examples of these rapidly growing and expanding types of services. Even the more mainstream dating sites like Match.com are getting in on the act, putting out apps designed to enhance the experience of their members.

But don’t for a moment think that these companies are doing all of this just to be nice; no, there is a huge amount of money to be made from mobile online dating. In 2007 the mobile dating market was valued at about $330 million, while in 2008 that number jumped to a whopping $550 million; the projection for 2013 is for the value to increase to approximately $1.3 billion. It’s no wonder, then, that online dating services are jumping headfirst into the mobile marketplace.

What does this mean for you? In general, the explosive growth of mobile online dating options works in your favor because it allows you even greater choice and access when it comes to dating. Where you need to be careful, though, is in the added costs. Some sites offer their mobile services for free, while others charge a fee; additionally, depending on your service plan you may get hit with big overage charges for the extra data usage you’ll rack up using these kinds of apps.

The best approach is to read the fine print on the service you’re interested in, check with your mobile phone company regarding your data usage plan, and then start taking advantage of the flexibility and fun of using online mobile dating apps!

News & Views Cell Phone, Dating Applications, iPhone, Match.com, Mobile Phone, Zoosk

Just about everything else on the internet is now accessible via your mobile phone, so why not online dating as well? It makes a lot of sense, really, because so many people now connect to the internet as much (or even more) using their mobile phone than using their laptop or desktop computer.

The latest online dating service to “go mobile” is Zoosk, which claims to be the “world’s largest social dating community”. They actually are offering two different applications, one that’s strictly for mobile phones and one that’s designed to bring the online dating experience directly onto your computer desktop. It’s easier than ever to always have Zoosk at your fingertips, right? Right!

But is this kind of approach really a good thing?

It’s already frustrating enough dealing with poor mobile phone etiquette, how much more annoying is it going to be to have lots more people focused on their online dating activities this way as well? Imagine sitting in a meeting where the person next to you is receiving updates, winks, virtual gifts, and the like, throughout; and you thought simple texting was bothersome!

And what happens when you’re out with one person on a date but you receive messages from another person at the same time? Imagine the raft of new excuses you’re going to need… “That was my mother calling”… “It was a wrong number”… “I’ll just call them back later”… these old tired excuses just might not cut it anymore?

This is all a bit ‘tongue in cheek’ of course, but the underlying issue is something to think about. If you want the latest in convenience and accessibility for online dating then by all means look for a service like Zoosk that offers a mobile application. If, however, you’re not quite ready to be THAT accessible, think carefully before allowing this kind of application to invade your mobile phone!

News & Views Access, Cell Phone, Internet, Mobile Phone